Fresh Tomb Raider Trailer, Release For March 5th 2013

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Tomb Raider‘s latest resurrection is scheduled for March 5, 2013. So there’s a while to wait, but it could be worth that extra six months wait, if the latest trailer is anything to go by. There’s some spectacular scenery and ugly violence. Oof, yes, it’s all looking a bit Uncharted to me. Go take a look.

I love when she yelled at the wolf to get off of her. Were I in that situation, and I was somehow able to overcome my primal fear enough to utter any semblance of human speech, I think it would sound something more like “Aaeeeeegghhhhee” than “Get the hell off me!”

Just something to keep in mind here: E3 trailers are designed for maximum spectacle and appeasement of meatheads, and minimum actual representation of the game. Just look at the Dishonoured trailer – previews of the game have repeated that you can play the whole thing without killing anyone, and that stealth is important. Half the trailer is taken up by non-stealthy dudes getting stabbed in the face.

The more solid previews of this new Tomb Raider actually suggest that it’s an open-world game, to a degree. Metroid-like progression where new tools, weapons and skills open up more areas. There’s even a fast-travel system to get you around the island faster. There’s a hint of this in the trailer where Lara has to hunt for food.

This is what i’m hoping for. While that trailer showed off Uncharted style set pieces, that small segment with the hunting and a few other glimpses gave me hope this is something with a bit more breathing space between all those big explosions.

I’m thinking of this as Tomb Raider’s take on Batman Begins. The rise of Lara Croft from studious nobody to reluctant ninja assassin to the Dark Knight of Gotham. Only with less batarangs and vinyl bat-nipples. And probably fewer ninjas. And less Gotham. And more pain. Ouch.

In a perverse sorta way, I want to see how Lara grows from apologizing to the animal she’s about to eat, to gleefully pushing entire species to extinction. Re-extinction, in the case of dinosaurs.

I really hope we’re going to see some character progression in this game and that we will see her grow into the stoic cold-hearted homicidal bitch we know her to be!
I really wish they would’ve toned the stylistic excesses in this trailer. The flickering sound and visual effect annoyed. Oh, and the slo-mo and woomph sound. Could do without it. Rather predictable and cliched.

Edit: Actually, thinking about it, considering what kind of person Lara will become later on I don’t find it believable how she is portrayed here in her earlier years. I doubt that this cold-hearted killing machine was so “vulnerable” in her teenage years. Well, maybe she was hit on the head at some point, maybe a bullet shot right through her cranium, that could explain thing, but otherwise…I don’t think humans can change THAT much, especially regarding their emotions. Undoubtedly they can change, through experiences and circumstances, but turning from an emphatic, caring, vulnerable human being to basically Terminator? Hrm…
Well, admittedly I haven’t played any of the Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider games, so I’m not sure how she was portrayed in them. I’m just basing this on my experience with Tomb Raider II, III and IV.

I think her personality was mostly defined through the actions the player has to perform, kinda like with Samus Aran.
And she always said this cold, abrasive “no” in Tomb Raider II. She talked in cutscenes I think. And then there is the following observation from John Walker’s Tomb Raider IV retrospective:

But of course this possession is entirely Lara’s fault. Lara is, let’s not forget, a truly dreadful person. Much has already been written about how she’s a grave-robbing thief, uncaring about either history or wildlife. And despite her having encountered dinosaurs, dragons and giant killer statues, she’s utterly blase about ignoring ancient texts warning of terrible plagues being unleashed upon the Earth if she takes one trinket or another. Screw Earth! She wants the shiny thing!

I dunno. Of corse this is not actucal gameplay, but I seems to me that they got rid of a lot of the QTEs I don’t like (a la telltale Jurassic Park) and put in some QTEs I do like (a la Uncharted). I seems to be the kind of game where you have to press left to really make Lara dodge left, avoiding a boulder, as seen in uncharted and not the kind of QTEs where you have to quickly press “A” repeatedly to sprint or something. I might be reading a lot to much into this video, but that’s a least what i would like to see.
And an overhaul like that would explain why they pushed it back so much.

BTW: I like the intense and “serious” violence and the overall dark mood.

Personally I like the fact their doing a how Lara became Tomb Raider game..also I like the fact they aren’t just doing the same things over and over again. We moan about innovation and sequels etc and yet along come a couple of games trying to do things a touch differently and everyone is up in arms it isn’t like all the others…we want the same..

I didn’t used to like female protagonists because of the heavy stereotyping in games, but this looks more like how a real woman reacts to these kind of events. Come to think of it, most male characters are also not very believable. Of course a player wants to play as a tough guy, but like they say, heroes are made, not born. Hopefully, that message will come through in this game.

Yet, we could’ve done without the talking while she’s being attacked, right? Who would do that? I’m not sure you would be able to articulate anything in such a situation. Heck, I have problems articulating in any situation…

I found this and the first trailer quite disgusting, actually. I don’t know why anyone would like to watch someone going through so much pain over and over depicted in such an almost pornographic manner.

Yeah… For all of the comparisons to Uncharted, it’s worth noting that Nathan Drake spends very little time looking terrified and narrowly avoiding sexual assault. Is that seriously the only origin story a “strong” female protagonist can ever get ever?

Sure. But it’s an explanation that (1) has hugely problematic gender politics attached to it and (2) has already been done to death. At best it’s lazy, uninventive character development. At worst it’s part of a pervasive pop cultural tendency to both normalize and eroticize violence against women.

Although I do like that CD don’t seem to be afraid of hurting Lara just because she’s a female (not that I think females SHOULD be injured for any particular reason). Actually I want to give them a lot of credit for this character. From what I’ve gathered from the trailers (and preview last year) she really seems to be an improvement over the regular females we get in games, such as the OLD Lara Croft.

I understand that this is going to be her “evolution” so to speak. And I actually really liked the bit where she first shoots the dude. But it was right after that, where she’s suddenly running around shooting stuff and smacking people in the face with an ice pick that dragged the trailer down for me. I think it was just done too quickly.

I think I would have preferred for her to have shot the guy at the end of the trailer, leaving the idea that she’s all grown up in your mind, instead of it just being shown to you like you couldn’t have put two and two together.

Is that Keeley Hawes doing the VO for Lara? It doesn’t sound like it (presumably because she’s supposed to be much younger this time around). It’d be a shame not to have her doing it because I thought she was great in Legend and Underworld.

Still, I rather enjoyed that trailer… Definitely interested although every game in the world is coming out in the first few months of next year so it might get smothered in the crowd a bit.

I had a look earlier and it seems they haven’t announced who Lara’s voice-actress is, other than to say that it isn’t Keeley Hawes. It sounds a little bit like Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones), but I’m not sure it is her.

I’m ok with it, I was hoping for a more slow paced little human contact kind of game before I had got a nice metro2033/cryostasis vibe from the visual design, it maybe it is like for large portions but I’m doubting it.

Anyway, playing Tomb Raider Legend for the first time RIGHT NOW, and its pretty effing good. Not Prince of Persia : WW good, but not far behind. THIS – this doesnt look like a Tomb Raider game to me.

Oh, and Crystal Dynamics is another developer joining the circle of retards “no, we wont put either number or a subtitle, let the gamers screw themselves over trying to google the name of our game, mwahaha”.

I’m hoping this is some sort of origin story for Lara Croft… Because I don’t remember her being so whiny and vulnerable sounding, and I’m pretty sure I preferred the more badass Lara Croft. Perhaps she toughens up as the game progresses?

I hope they haven’t completely substituted the good old dungeon hopping and puzzles for gore and violence. It bothers me a bit when innovation means “grittier and darker”, which, to me is a total cop out on actually creating good gameplay.

Who was it that played Tomb Raider and said, “You know what would be awesome? If Lara was tied up a lot more often. Tied up and hanging upside down, tied with her hands behind her back and a creepy dude groping her. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Because I want to know who are the creepy people not to sit by at the next RPS gathering.